Yallingup with Kids: 9 Family-Friendly Things to Do

Yallingup is better for kids than most families realise before they arrive.

I think people picture wineries and adult cellar doors and assume the South West is built for couples and grey nomads. It isn't. We raised kids around here, and so did half the families I know. There's more for them to do than you'd think, and most of it is the kind of activity that wears them out properly, which is the only thing any parent actually wants on a weekend away.

Here are nine things I'd point any visiting family towards.

Photo: Lasthib, CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Start here. Yallingup Beach is small, sheltered by the reef, and the inside section near the headland is calm enough for kids who aren't strong swimmers. There's a grassy area above the beach with picnic tables, which is useful when you've got a lunch to unpack and a toddler covered in sand.

The surf school operates out of the southern end of the beach for older kids wanting to try standing up on something. Yallingup Surf School and Josh Palmateer's surf school both run lessons through the summer months. Book ahead.

the longer take on Yallingup Beach

Smiths is the bigger, more dramatic neighbour. The beach is wider, the surf is bigger, and the headlands give the place real character. There's good rock pooling at low tide on the southern end. The bay protects a section of swimming water that's safer than the open beach.

Bring shoes for the rocks. The kids will want to be in there for an hour.

Ngilgi is the family cave. It's a self-guided walk down to the cavern with timed entry: about 25 minutes underground, lots of stairs and ramps. Kids from about five up will get a lot out of it. Under-fives can do it but you'll be carrying them at the steeper sections.

It's also cool inside year-round (about 18 degrees) which is welcome on a hot afternoon. They run torchlight tours and adventure tours for older kids and teenagers, and those are worth looking at if your kids are at the age where a standard cave walk feels too tame.

Photo: SeanMack, CC BY 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

the Ngilgi half-day write-up

The Yallingup Maze is exactly what it sounds like: a proper hedge and timber maze on Wildwood Rd, plus mini-golf, giant outdoor games, and a café. Kids will spend three hours there if you let them. It's the single best weather-proof outing for primary-aged kids in the area, and the parents get a coffee while the kids run themselves into the ground.

Check current opening hours on the Yallingup Maze website before you drive over. They vary by season and they sometimes close midweek out of the school holidays.

Forty minutes north of Yallingup, but worth the trip. The Busselton Jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. You can walk it (1.8km out, 1.8km back, bring a hat) or take the little train along the planks, which the kids will prefer.

At the end there's the Underwater Observatory, a chamber eight metres below the surface where you can look out at the artificial reef the jetty piles have become. Fish, coral, the lot. Book ahead, especially in school holidays.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

a day around the Busselton Jetty

South of Margaret River town, an hour's drive from Yallingup. They have flight displays a couple of times a day and the kids stand surprisingly still for the whole thing when a wedge-tailed eagle is being flown overhead. Combine it with a visit to one of the Margaret River caves if you're making a full day of it.

Drive around to Meelup Beach and Eagle Bay on the Dunsborough side of the peninsula. The water on this side is protected, much calmer than the Yallingup side, and the beaches are properly safe for swimming with small kids. Meelup has a grassy reserve, shaded picnic tables, and toilets. Eagle Bay is quieter, sandier, and has a small café for ice cream after the swim.

Photo: Western Australian Government, CC BY 2.5 AU · via Wikimedia Commons

A short version of the Cape to Cape walk that works for families. Park at the Cape Naturaliste car park, walk the path to Sugarloaf Rock and back: easy underfoot, mostly flat, plenty of viewing platforms. About an hour for an unhurried family. The lighthouse tour at the start is a hit with kids; you climb to the top and look out over the Indian Ocean.

If you want to extend, walk down towards the whale lookout. September through November you'll often see humpbacks moving past.

The gallery has a viewing window into the workshop. Kids who've never seen woodworking by hand tend to stop and watch. It's free. I'll usually come out and show them what I'm working on — a hand plane, a chisel, a fresh shaving of jarrah they can take home. It takes ten minutes and they remember it. Google Maps sometimes misdirects via Wildwood Rd, so stay on Bussell Hwy, turn at the Carbunup store, then Blythe Rd.

It's a softer thing to slot in between the bigger outings. Half an hour at the gallery, then on to the next thing. Pamela has a couple of small pieces in the shop that kids tend to gravitate to: small jarrah blocks, off-cuts shaped into puzzles. She's good with families.

For a ready-made plan, here's how I'd string these together over two days.

1. 9am

   Yallingup Beach

   Morning swim and sandcastle building. Coffee from the General Store.
2. 11:30am

   Yallingup Maze

   Three hours of maze, mini-golf and outdoor games. Lunch at the café.
3. 3pm

   John Streater Fine Furniture, Blythe Rd

   Watch a piece being made. Off-cuts for the kids.
4. 4:30pm

   Smiths Beach

   Rock-pooling at the southern end. Take ice cream.
5. 9am next day

   Busselton Jetty

   Train out, underwater observatory, walk back if energy holds.
6. 1pm

   Eagle Bay

   Calm-water swim and picnic lunch.
7. 3:30pm

   Cape Naturaliste lighthouse

   Easy walk to Sugarloaf and back. Whale-watching if in season.

The thing I'd say to any family coming down here is: don't over-plan. The kids will get more out of two long mornings at the beach than they will out of six attractions in two days. Pick one or two structured things (the maze, the cave, the jetty) and let the rest of it be sand and water and time.

That, and bring proper sunscreen. The Indian Ocean glare is honest about itself.

the family-friendly version of the region

Photo: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

After a lifetime here watching families come and go through Yallingup, the ones who leave happiest are the ones who slow down. The kids feel it. So do the parents.